Encounters
by lollygirl128
Summary: Even months after Paul learned Percy's godly secret, he continues to be amazed and confused by Percy's friends and intrigued by his daily life. A series of one-shots set after Paul found out, starting the winter before TLO and continuing onward. Companion piece to my other story, The Answer To All Things Interesting.
1. Shadow Traveling

Encounters

**A/N So if you've read The Answer To All Things Interesting (one of my other stories), this is a companion piece. You don't need to read that to read this, but I would be eternally grateful if you did. Anyway, this _particular _one-shot takes place a few months after Paul finds out, AKA the December before TLO. I don't know how far this'll go, I'll probably just write when inspiration hits. So if chapters don't go in natural order (for example, I could go from just before the Battle of Manhattan to Percy's disappearance, or maybe even after that), I'll be sure to let you know when each chapter is set.**

**PM me or leave a review to give me characters that you think Paul should meet in later chapters. I'll probably update this story weekly, but the more reviews I get, the faster I'll write (nudge nudge).**

**And please, if you want to leave character ideas for me, make them plausible. I mean really, why would Paul end up meeting Chiron? Come, now.**

Chapter One: Shadow Travel

Ever since Paul had learned the truth about his step-son's godly parentage, life had gotten progressively stranger.

For instance, if a boy a few years younger than Percy wearing all black and a skull ring walked into Sally's living room from the shadows a few months ago, Paul might have stood up, left the apartment, and taken a cab to the nearest hospital to get his brain scanned. Luckily, this was a few months after he had been let in on the secret, so he didn't freak out. Much, anyway.

Paul had just gotten home from school on a Friday. Sally was still at a writing seminar across town for a few more hours, and Percy was in his room doing his homework. Paul sat in his regular recliner near the corner of the room and got out some papers to grade.

He had been at it for about an hour when he heard a swish, someone stumbling, and a thump behind his chair. Paul shot out of his seat and turned to see what the sound had come from, only to find a boy in a black army jacket with a dark mop of hair and a silver skull ring slumped against the wall. He had _definitely_ not been there a moment ago.

This was probably a Percy problem.

"Percy!" Paul called, and he heard his step-son get up from his seat on his bed and open his door, then walk to the living room.

"Yea—_Nico_?" Percy ran to the barely-conscious boy's side and kneeled. "What in Hades are you doing here?"

Nico sighed and closed his eyes. "I told you to quit using my dad's name as an expletive."

"Yeah, and I told you fat chance. What are you doing here?"

Nico's eyes were still closed. "Accidentally shadow-traveled to Indonesia, I was trying for Indianapolis. Then I came back here, 'cuz I knew I'd be exhausted and… you'd know what to do, I guess? I don't really know, it made sense before."

"Indianapolis? Why there?"

"A lead."

Percy nodded, so he must know what this 'lead' meant.

"So if you don't mind, can I just… nap here? For a bit? I can just lay here, don't even need a… couch." Nico had yawned twice by time he was done talking.

Percy looked amused and exasperated. He put his arm under Nico's shoulder and started to lift him. "Ok, Mr. Prince-Of-Darkness, you're in the middle of the floor. You want the couch or my bed?"

Nico sighed. "Why do you keep talking to me? I'm _sleeping_."

Percy rolled his eyes. "My bed it is."

Percy half walked, half carried Nico down the hall to his room, deposited him on his bed, and left him to go back to the living room. He slumped on the couch. "He weighs more than he looks."

Paul cleared his throat. "Um… what exactly… happened there?"

Percy took a deep breath and let it out. "Well. That's Nico di Angelo. He's the son of Hades. We have a… complicated relationship."

"How so? You must be pretty close, if he thought he could come to you while he was exhausted after, well, showing up out of thin air."

"He showed up _literally_ out of the shadows. That's something he can do. He can also talk to spirits and read people's life aura."

Paul raised his eyebrows. "That's… a little creepy, to be honest."

"You're telling me."

"So why is your relationship complicated?"

"Well… Do you want the long story or the short story?"

"Whichever one explains it best, I suppose."

Percy sighed and put his hands behind his head. "Two years ago, Annabeth, Thalia and I all went to this school called Westover Hall up north to help Grover retrieve these two extremely powerful demi-gods. Their names were Bianca and Nico di Angelo.

"When we got there, there was this manticore trying to kill them, so we were trying to get out of there fast. Long story short, the manticore chased us out, we tried to fight back, and Annabeth ended up getting kidnapped. Remember the 'holding up the sky' story?" Percy waited for Paul to nod. "That's how it started. But before she got taken, the Hunters of Artemis showed up to try to take the manticore down, since that's what they do. Take down monsters.

"Anyway, Lady Artemis ended up recruiting Bianca into her Hunt." Percy looked pained as he said the next part. "Remember, while Hunters don't age, they can die in combat." He sighed.

"So, the Hunters and Thalia, Nico, and I all went back to camp, where a prophecy was given for a quest to find the goddess and Annabeth. Since it was Zoë's—Artemis' lead huntress—quest, she wouldn't let me come because I was a guy. So I ended up sneaking along with them.

"Nico caught me leaving and knew I was sneaking out, so he made me promise to keep his sister safe." Percy sighed. "And I promised."

Percy moved his hands from behind his head to his lap. "So eventually the people on the quest and I got together so they knew I was there, and we started heading west. One line of the prophecy was "One shall be lost in the land with no rain", or something like that. And we were stupid to try our luck by walking through a desert."

Paul was listening with rapt attention, and he could hear the sadness in Percy's voice get more and more pronounced as the story went on. Percy looked at his hands in his lap as he said the next part.

"We came across Hephaestus' junk yard, and Bianca found this little figurine that she knew Nico would like. She picked it up, and this giant automaton woke up and started attacking us for trying to steal something from Hephaestus. I had this idea to jump inside the automaton and turn it off from the inside, and I told Bianca what I was about to do. She told me she should do it since it was her fault the giant woke up. I let her go. She didn't make it." Percy took a deep breath and let out a shuddering sigh.

"I brought the figurine with me back to camp when the quest was over to give to Nico, since she had died for it. I gave it to him and told him what happened, and…" Percy shook his head. "Well, that's when I found out his godly parentage."

"You hadn't known before?" Paul asked.

"No. You really only know your parentage if you get claimed, and Nico hadn't gotten claimed yet."

"How did you find out, then?"

"He opened the ground to swallow up some skeletons that had been chasing me for most of the quest. Only one god could have given him that power."

Paul nodded and was quiet for a moment. "So if you lost his trust, how did you gain it back?"

Percy shrugged. "Series of unfortunate events. Nico left camp and tried to go it alone, and met a ghost that convinced him that he could bring Bianca back to life. It wasn't true. Death is permanent. But anyway, I felt like I owed him, so even though he hated me I saved his life several times. Eventually he came around."

Paul nodded slowly. "I see. Is that the boy that came to your birthday?"

"Yeah."

"So did he… shadow-travel into your room then? Is that how he got here without using the door?"

Percy nodded. "Sometimes his destinations get a little messed up though. He's still working on it."

Paul nodded once more. Percy stood up and stretched. "Well, I still have homework, and Ghost Prince is currently laying on it. I'll have to go figure out how to get it out without him attacking me."

With that, Percy left the living room, leaving Paul slightly dazed and far too distracted to continue grading papers.


	2. Pegasi

Pegasi

**A/N: This is set a few weeks after the Titan war. Percy is at his apartment, I don't really know why he's not at camp. Bear with me, here.**

Paul Blofis liked to believe he was open minded. That was certainly being put to the test lately.

It was a Saturday in late summer. School would be up and running in a few weeks, and Paul was both looking forward to and dreading it. He would miss sleeping in, but it's not like he did that anyway. So it was more like he would miss the _option_ of sleeping in.

As Paul sat down at the table to eat his cereal, Percy bolted out of his bedroom at a sprint. He bumped into the end table in the living room, but kept going until he reached the nearest window. He pushed it open, poked his head out and looked around. Then he pulled it back in, shut the window, and ran to the window on the other side of the room.

"Blackjack!" he whisper-yelled. Paul heard nothing, but Percy scoffed. "_No_, you're _not_." Who was he talking to?

He pulled his head out of the window and looked around the room again, looking for another window. The next one was in the kitchen, where he noticed Paul was watching him curiously and bemusedly.

"Oh, hey Paul. I'm just… looking for a horse."

"Oh. All… all right?"

Percy shrugged and walked to the window in the kitchen. "Not really. HE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. And he's NOT AT ANY OF OUR WINDOWS."

Paul jumped at Percy's raised voice, but when he yelled, he looked at the ceiling, as if yelling at someone who's not in the room. Percy opened the kitchen window and looked left and right, then pulled back in and shook his head. "Blackjack, you are not at my apartment. Are you sure you're even at the right building?"

Percy was silent for a moment, then scowled. "Watch it Blackjack, I'll wash your mouth out with saddle soap, remember?" He was quiet again. "Just because I've never done it before, doesn't mean I won't do it. There's a first time for everything."

Finally, Paul decided he needed more information. "Percy, what're you doing?"

Percy sighed. "Blackjack is trying to find me to take me to the pond at Central Park, apparently there are some water nymphs that got tangled in fishing wire. But he can't find the apartment."

Percy rolled his eyes at something Blackjack said in his mind. "Blackjack, I'm standing in my kitchen right next to the window. Whoever's kitchen you're looking at is not mine… Fine, I'll look again."

Percy looked out the window once more. Paul heard angry whinnying, and Percy looked up toward the top of the building. "You're on the wrong floor! It's not _my fault_!"

Paul heard what sounded like helicopter blades, and guessed it was probably pegasus wings. Percy opened the window further and put one leg through it. "If you don't catch me, I will find a new Pegasus," Percy yelled over the wind. "See ya in a bit Paul," Percy said, and jumped into the open air. Paul jumped from his seat and ran to the window to see that Percy didn't fall to the ground. When he looked out, he saw no signs that Percy had hurt himself, so he assumed he must have landed on his Pegasus.

"I will never get used to this," Paul muttered.

**A/N Ok so this one was on the shorter side. It would've been longer if I had included Blackjack, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.**

**The next one is Annabeth, and it's also after TLO. You know what that means. _Percabeth. _WHOO!**


	3. Invisibility

Invisibility

**A/N WHAT! An update ALREADY? I KNOW RIGHT?! That's what happens when you get bored, I guess.**

**Anyway, to the story!**

As exiting as Percy made Paul's life, sometimes it just left Paul a bit confused.

Like say, for instance, you went to find the aluminum cans to recycle them, only to find one measly can at the bottom of the bag you keep them in, and it has a bite out of it.

But that's a different story entirely from what had confused Paul today.

School had just started, and it was burning up outside in the regular late August heat. Paul had taken a taxi home after school, hoping for some air conditioning to give him a reprieve from the one-hundred-plus degree heat index, only to find the only cab in Manhattan that didn't have AC _or_ working windows. So, needless to say, he was pretty hot, tired, and thirsty when he got to the apartment he shared with his wife and step-son.

When Paul opened the door, he almost fainted with joy as a burst of chilly, sixty-eight degree air hit his face. Paul sighed happily and toed off his shoes by the closed door, then put his school bag by them.

Paul walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He figured Percy was in his room doing homework, and Sally would still be at work for a few hours. He filled his glass with tap water, then headed back to the living room to relax.

When Paul sat in his usual recliner, he thought he heard air whooshing out of something, like a sigh. He looked around the room, keeping his ears open, but he didn't see anything. Finally he decided it was probably the AC in the building doing something weird.

Just then, Percy came walking out of his room. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and black gym shorts that went to his knees. He wore his camp necklace.

"Hey Paul, I thought I heard you come in," Percy told him when he saw him in his seat.

Paul nodded, but still had a furrowed brow from hearing what sounded like a breath. The sound had come from the couch, so Paul was looking in that vicinity. Percy noticed.

"What?" Percy asked, immediately cautious. He put his hand in his pocket, where Paul knew he kept his sword. He crept toward the couch for a few steps, before several things happened consecutively.

The springs on the couch made a sound, as if pressure had been taken off of them. Next, Paul heard a thud and saw Percy clutch his left side. Then Percy stood stock straight, but not in a natural way; more like someone was forcing him to stand that way. Percy closed his eyes in resignation. _What?_ There was no way Percy was just going to take this sitting down. What was going on? Why hadn't he fought back yet?

Then Percy lifted his right hand so it was just to the left of his head. Percy smirked and made the hand into a fist, and pulled the arm back to his side in a quick movement.

A pretty blonde girl, a few inches shorter than Percy, materialized behind him. Her hair was messy from the hat that Percy was now holding being yanked from her head. She was smirking, her calculating gray eyes focused on the side of Percy's face that she could see. She was standing behind Percy with her head above his left shoulder, she had her right hand holding Percy's head by the hair, and her left hand held a knife to his neck.

"I win," she whispered in his ear. Percy grinned even wider.

Simultaneously, Percy pulled his left elbow back to hit her in the ribs, and brought his right hand up to grab the knife by the blade. When Annabeth doubled over from getting hit with such force, she lost her tight grip on the knife handle and Percy easily pulled it from her hand. In a flash he flipped it so he was holding the hilt and turned so he faced his attacker. She had begun to stand straighter after a moment of being bent at the waist, but wasn't completely stable yet. So Percy easily pushed her onto her butt with his left hand and then pushed her back onto her elbows. He pressed the tip of the knife to her chest with his right hand and kept his left on her shoulder. He was kneeling over her, with his right leg on its knee between her legs and his left foot right next to her left ribs. She was breathing heavily from being elbowed in the stomach and she could feel the tip of her own blade poking her in the chest every time she breathed, but she grinned up at the smirking face of her boyfriend.

"No. I win," he told her.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Fine, Seaweed Brain," she sighed amusedly, then took Percy's hand when he offered it. He pulled her up and she leaned forward, giving him a peck on the mouth. "But you cheated."

Percy did a mixture between a scoff and a chuckle. "_I_ cheated? You attacked me invisible!"

"Yeah, but I can't grab blades, can I, Mr. Invulnerable?" she asked him.

Percy scoffed. "That's not cheating, that's using an advantage."

"Well so's my hat, then!"

Percy sighed. "All right, fine. We both cheated. But I still won."

Annabeth rolled her eyes again. "Fine, Percy."

Percy smiled, then seemed to remember they weren't alone. He looked over at Paul to see that his eyes were wide with fright.

"Oh sorry, Mr. Blofis. I think you heard me breathe before Percy came out. I didn't mean to freak you out," Annabeth told him.

"That's fine, Annabeth, I'm just…" he sighed. "I don't even know. Freaked, maybe?"

Percy smiled in relief. He was worried that Paul would be mad or something. "Sorry, Paul. But what're you doing here anyway, Annabeth?"

Annabeth scoffed indignantly, but it was in jest. "What, a girl can't visit her boyfriend now and again?"

Percy's grin grew at her calling him that. _Boyfriend_. He would never tire of hearing it. "While I have nothing against that," he said, and moved to take her hand, "most girls just come to the door."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I did come through the door, Seaweed Brain, when your step-dad did. And how would you know most girls come to the door?"

"Just something I've heard," Percy told her. His smile hadn't left his face.

"Ah," Annabeth said. Then her grin returned. "Well most girls aren't half-bloods with invisibility hats, are they?"

Percy shook his head. "I have the one and only, I believe." Then he pecked her lips. He was tempted to go a bit further, keep his lips locked with hers a bit longer, but decided not to in front of Paul. He looked to his step-father.

"Do you mind if Annabeth and I go somewhere?" he asked him.

"Where?" Paul asked. He knew he could trust Percy, but his mom would probably like to know the details when she got home.

Percy looked at Annabeth, looked back at Paul, and shrugged. "Take a walk, see where it leads us?"

Paul nodded. "Does one of you have a cell phone so we can call?" he asked. Then he realized his mistake. "Stupid question. But someone has a drachma to reach us if you need to?" Percy nodded. "Ok. Stay safe, then."

Percy nodded again. "We will Paul."

As they were leaving, Paul heard Annabeth speak. "Remember the last time we walked aimlessly, hoping we'd end up in the right spot?"

Percy looked at her. "Good point. Paul, we're just going to get pizza!" Then they closed the door behind them.

**A/N Just in case those last few lines about the 'wandering aimlessly' was too vague, I was referring to the Labyrinth. But I bet all of you knew that. 'Cuz you're so awesome and smart.**

**Leave a review or PM me for suggestions on other characters! I have general ideas for a lot of characters, but please feel free to give me scenarios in which Paul would meet people. Thalia is up next, expect it soon.**


	4. Trouble

Trouble

**A/N Well, this one wouldn't get out of my head, so I wrote it down and I'm actually pretty damn proud of it for how fast I wrote it. I guess that whole "I'll update weekly" thing is out the window now, though.**

**Anyway.**

**There is a tiny bit of Greek in here and same as last time, translation is at the end.**

"What do you mean?" Sally asked her husband. "He just didn't come home?"

"I don't know, Sally. When I got here, he wasn't in his room. I called his phone, but it's not on him. What do you think we should do?" Paul asked. He was quite alarmed to find his step-son not where he should have been when Paul got home from work. He had decided not to call Sally though, as he didn't want her to freak out prematurely. But Paul was kind of freaking out now.

Sally sighed. "Well, usually when this happens, he IMs me to tell me he's safe and at camp, but he's supposed to go to school tomorrow," Sally frowned. "There weren't any weird occurrences at school today, were there?"

"If you mean explosions or fires, then no," he told her. But then he frowned as he thought of something he had noticed today when Percy was in his class.

"But," he began, "Percy did get called out of class by one of the cheerleaders, they said the office needed him. He didn't look to sure about it, and he had his hand near his sword as he left. I was going to ask him about it when I got home. I didn't see him after he left."

Sally looked worried. "I'm going to IM him, make sure he's ok," she told Paul. Ever since the battle, Sally had gotten a little worried for her son's safety. Even though she should have been reassured by the fact that he'd survived a war and bore the curse of Achilles, she got a little antsy not knowing where he was.

She walked to the table that held the 'key bowl', as they called it. The key bowl was filled with miscellaneous items, like coins, paper clips, rubber bands, pencils and pens, and of course, keys. Sally dug until she found a drachma, then went to the kitchen with Paul following her. She turned on the sink to its highest, knowing that when it was that high, mist shot out the side of the faucet. Just a small up-side to living in an old apartment.

Sally opened the window curtains, letting in the last strains of sunlight of the day. A rainbow appeared, and Sally smiled. "Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Percy Jackson."

She threw the drachma into the mist, where it vanished. Paul watched, mesmerized. He had heard how this was done, but never seen it before. Sally looked at his face and smiled. "It's cool, huh?"

Paul nodded, and watched as a scene materialized in front of them.

Percy had his back to them, wielding a bronze sword. Paul's eyes widened, as he had never been able to see Riptide before. He guessed he was probably able to see through the Mist right now because he was looking through an Iris Message, but didn't think into it much because he was now looking at the rest of the scene.

He was in a dark alley, and there was a girl next to Percy, one Paul didn't think he'd met. She had short and choppy black hair, with a silver tiara placed on top of her head. She was wearing a silver hunting jacket and black jeans with army boots. She had a bow in her left hand and was notching an arrow with the other, and Paul noticed there was a large silver bracelet on her bow hand.

Percy slashed and hacked at something hidden from view in the shadows. "Why isn't Aegis out, Thalia?" Percy asked her loudly.

Thalia released her arrow, and it went flying toward where Percy had been attacking. "Because I can't have it out and shoot at the same time, Seaweed Brain," she yelled back at him and re-notched with two arrows this time.

"Watch it, Thals!" Percy yelled, and a green, glowing spear went flying toward the dark haired girl. She ducked just in time, and let loose her arrows.

Paul heard a screech, and saw a snake-like woman fall to her knees, an arrow in her neck. Then she turned to dust.

Sally gasped at that point, and Percy and Thalia turned around. Percy had his sword raised, and Thalia had an arrow aimed at Sally's chest. They both recognized the visitors at the same, and dropped their weapons.

Percy let out a breath. "Mom, Paul. Not really a good time."

Sally put her hands on her hips. "Well excuse us, we were just wondering where you were, since you didn't come home."

Percy sighed. "I'm sorry mom, I didn't have time to call home. I've had empousai and dracaenae and hellhounds—"

"Oh my," Thalia cut in.

"—chasing me since sixth hour," Percy talked over Thalia, pretending she hadn't spoken.

"Why so many?" Sally asked worriedly.

"Um, that would be the Hunters' fault, Mrs. Jackson," Thalia spoke for Percy. "We sort of chased them into New York on accident. And they caught Percy's scent, and have been chasing him all over the island."

"Not the _whole _island," Percy added, trying to keep Sally from freaking anymore. "Just the Upper East Side."

Thalia looked at something behind Paul and Sally that was in the alley.

"Δεκάρα," she said. "Υπάρχουν περισσότερα."

Percy looked to where Thalia was aiming her bow and raised his sword. "I'll be home soon, guys," he said, and swiped his sword through the image. The mirage disappeared from the kitchen.

Sally sighed. Paul knew she was much more comfortable in this position, knowing he was alive. Sure, he's fighting scary demons, but that's practically an every day occurrence.

"Well, now we just wait," she told Paul. "Shall I make dinner?"

oOoOoOo

Paul had fallen asleep in his recliner. Sally was dozing on the couch, her arm hanging off the edge. They had tried to stay up to see that Percy got home safely, but had accidentally fallen asleep at around ten.

But they both woke up quickly when they heard voices outside the door.

"You seriously don't have your key?" a female voice asked.

"I didn't say that. I just can't—here it is," said a male's voice. Obviously Percy.

Then they heard a jangling thump, probably Percy dropping his keys. The girl, who they figured was Thalia, snorted.

"Why didn't you just knock if you're so incapable of getting inside on your own?" she asked him.

"Because it's eleven o'clock, Pinecone Face. They're probably asleep."

"But you don't deny your incapability to open the door."

Percy sighed. "Stop using your big words. It's too late, and I really only try to understand when it's Annabeth."

Thalia 'ooohed', kind of like a third grader, and stopped abruptly when Percy audibly smacked her in the head. She smacked him back, and a full scale cat-fight broke out. Sally looked at Paul exasperatedly and stood up.

She went to the door and opened it, exposing the two teens. They both stopped and looked at Sally, but didn't move. Thalia had a handful of Percy's hair and was pulling and her other hand was raised, ready to slap. Percy was pulling the tiny hairs on Thalia's arm. After a second, the demi-gods let go of each other and turned to face Sally, clearing their throats.

"I thought you were asleep," Percy said.

"I was, you woke us up. We were just in the living room, trying to wait for you. We fell asleep," Sally told him.

"Oh." Percy said lamely.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Mrs. Jackson, do you mind if I come in and get cleaned up?"

"Oh of course!" Sally nodded and backed up so the teens could come in. "Do you need any nectar or ambrosia?"

"Yes, please. Apparently I missed the boat to get all invulnerable," Thalia said as she followed Sally into the kitchen, Paul following Percy.

Sally got the 'special' first aid kit from beneath the sink, special because it held the nectar and ambrosia. While Thalia was cleaning her wounds, Sally spoke.

"So are the Hunters in town, then?" she asked.

Thalia nodded. "Yeah, milady was tracking a pack of gryphons, and we accidentally pushed several herds of monsters into the city. We were trying to get rid of them when I came across Percy. He looked like he could use some help."

Percy scoffed, and Thalia looked at him with raised eyebrows. Percy looked at her. "I would've been fine."

Thalia rolled her eyes and Sally heard what sounded a zap, like an electric shock, then a thud as Percy fell from his chair. Now that she thought about it, it probably was an electric shock.

Then Percy stood up scowling. "Cool it, Sparks, I'm glad you helped me. But don't make it seem like I was some helpless moron."

Thalia didn't look up from a cut on her arm as she spoke. "Don't call me Sparks. And you are a helpless moron."

Percy summoned a stream of water from the sink and dumped it on her hair. Thalia closed her eyes and made fists with her hands, and the room smelled of ozone. She had sparks in her hair.

"Oops. You're going to have to excuse me, I'm just a moron."

The kitchen was saved from destruction when the doorbell rang.

"Who in Hades is that? It's eleven at night," Percy asked. Paul left to open the door, and Percy followed him.

When the door opened, two policemen stood in the hallway. Paul was stunned. "Um, good evening officers. Can I help you?"

The cop on the right stepped forward. "We're sorry to bother you, but have you seen a white teenaged boy about six feet tall, weighing about one-hundred eighty pounds, dark hair, carrying an unknown weapon? We were told by a neighbor we might find him here."

Paul's eyebrows raised. "Um, could I ask why you're looking for him?"

The cop on the left spoke up. "We have had several eyewitnesses call in today, reporting a teen boy attacking several civilians today. Witnesses saw him and a girl of about the same age and description enter the building about half an hour ago. Have you seen either person?"

Then the cop on the right looked behind Paul to see Percy. He took out his badge and handcuffs and began to approach Percy. "You are under arrest for counts of assaulted battery of an innocent civilian. Anything—"

There was a snap, clearer than Paul had ever heard and that seemed to spread through the room, that made the cop stop talking. His eyes became unfocused, and he looked at his hands as if confused as to why he was handcuffing Percy. Thalia walked out of the kitchen.

"You have the wrong person, officer. In fact, the people calling in were just prank callers. The people you are looking for are innocent."

The cop looked at Thalia, confused. "But—"

"You and your partner can leave. No one got assaulted today, at least not by the people you're about to arrest."

The cop blinked hard, and shook his head. "You're right. I don't know what I was thinking. Come on, Carey, let's get back on patrol. We're terribly sorry for disturbing you. You all have a nice night." Then the cop gestured for his partner, Carey, to come with him as he headed toward the elevator.

Percy closed the door and leaned against it, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thanks for that, Thals. You've gotten good at that. Like scary good."

Thalia shrugged. "Better than you'll ever be."

Percy scowled.

Paul was looking between the two, incredulously. He pointed his finger at Percy, then at Thalia, and then just ran his hand through his salt and pepper hair. "What… what just happened? Did you just…"

"I manipulated the Mist to make them think… well, what I told them to think," Thalia informed him.

"You… you Jedi mind-tricked them?" Paul asked, still incredulous.

Percy snorted. "These are not the demi-gods you're looking for," he said, moving his hand in front of him.

Thalia smiled. "Move along."

Percy laughed a little.

"But… is that legal?" Paul asked.

Thalia shrugged again, her smile still in place. "Probably not. Anyway, I should get going. I have to find the Hunters before I lose their trail. Thanks for everything, Mrs. Jackson," she said, waving to Sally who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Sally smiled at her.

"You're welcome anytime," she told her.

Thalia looked at Percy, who was still leaning against the door. He stood up and looked at her seriously. "Thanks for everything today," he told her.

Thalia sighed. "Yeah well, I guess you'll always be in my debt. Now move, so I don't have to be in your ocean-y presence anymore."

She grabbed his shirt and moved him out of the way, going to the door.

Percy scoffed. "Well I don't wanna be in your… sky-y presence either," he told her haltingly.

Thalia rolled her eyes, something she was good at. "Sky-y?"

"Ocean-y?" he shot back at her.

Thalia smirked and walked out the door. "Yeah, I'm no Annabeth with my words," she said as she walked down the hall.

"I know," he said under his breath and closed the door behind her. He turned to look at his parents. Sally, who looked resigned to the 'cop' situation, and Paul who just looked dazed.

"Sorry for almost getting arrested. I swear the only things I assaulted were monsters," he told them both.

Sally smiled. "I believe you. I left you spaghetti on the stove if you're hungry. We're gonna go to sleep," she told Percy.

Percy nodded, and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, mom. See you in the morning."

"Go to bed soon," she told him, and headed for her bedroom. Paul remained standing there, looking tired and confused. She tugged on his hand, and he awoke from his daze.

"Um, night Percy," he said. "I expect an explanation tomorrow morning, on… well, everything that happened tonight. _Especially_ the Jedi mind-trick thing."

Percy smiled and shook his head. "No prob. Night, guys."

And Sally and Paul went to bed, leaving Percy to eat his spaghetti and wonder how best to broach the subject of Mist manipulation with Chiron again.

**A/N What Thalia said in Greek was "Damn, there are more". At least, that's what google translate says she said.**

**And wow! A Wizard of Oz AND a Star Wars quote? The Wizard of Oz one was obviously a little altered, but hopefully you got it. And if you didn't get the Star Wars one, then… well, where have you been?**

**Ahem.**

**I think I feel a Grover chapter coming on! Continue to review please, I still need characters and scenarios!**


	5. Burnt Enchiladas

Burnt Enchiladas

**A/N Set in the early fall after the Titan War.**

As soon as Paul stepped into the apartment, the fire alarm in the kitchen went off.

He didn't pay much heed to it. Sometimes the alarm would go off when they turned on the toaster, so he wasn't really panicked. He thought to himself how lucky they were that it was a store-bought alarm that went off all the time, and not the one that set off the entire building's sprinklers.

Paul walked down the short entryway to look into the kitchen, and what he saw made his eyes widen. The room was filled with gray smoke, billowing from a pan on the stove. There was an indistinguishable figure swatting at the smoke, taking the pan off the burner. Paul assumed it was Percy.

Paul was about to run into the kitchen pantry to find the fire extinguisher when another figure darted past him into the kitchen. He saw a head of black hair, belonging to a body that was about an inch taller than him. He knew _that_ was Percy. Who was in the kitchen?

"Grover! I leave you alone for a minute and you try to burn down the building?" Percy asked exasperatedly. He didn't sound too worried.

"I wasn't _trying_, it just happened! You shouldn't have left an inexperienced cook alone in here!"

Paul could hear them moving around in the kitchen. Someone had opened the window and turned on the overhead fan, while someone else had turned on the sink. The smoke was gradually clearing up, and Paul could see Percy using his powers to direct the sink water to the stove. He had already put out the fire in the burner (which appeared to have started when some food had fallen under the skillet) and was wetting a dishrag to get rid of scorch marks and the remaining smoke.

"You told me you knew how to cook an enchilada!" Percy exclaimed as he turned off the kitchen faucet.

"I told you I understood the _mechanics_, but I didn't say I'd done it before! Plus, your stove has an open flame, so I was freaking out the whole time! What if my fur had caught fire? I'm highly flammable!"

Percy sighed and turned to the other figure, Grover. "You weren't going to catch fire."

Grover made an odd sound, something Paul could only describe as a bleat. "I know that. It's an irrational fear. If it were rational, I would understand that."

The smoke had cleared completely, but the room still reeked of burning cheese. Paul put his shirt collar over his nose and stepped into the kitchen.

"Oh hey Paul. I thought I ran past you," Percy said when he saw his step-dad enter the room.

Grover turned around to face him, and Paul got a good look at him. He was about the same height as Percy, but not as toned as him. He had curly, reddish-brown hair, and a colorful rasta hat covering it. He was wearing a shirt that said 'save the world, duct tape can't fix everything', and some really weird fur pants.

Grover put his hand out. "Grover Underwood," he said, and Paul shook his hand.

"Oh yeah!" Percy said. "I forgot you hadn't met. Paul, this is my best friend, Grover Underwood. Grover, this is Paul Blofis."

Grover grinned. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Blowfish—I mean Blofis."

Paul smiled. Grover then walked over to the stove and picked up his charred enchilada and put it on a plate.

Percy looked amused. "You're seriously gonna eat that?"

Grover looked up at Percy. "Duh. I put a lot of work into this. Just 'cause its burnt, doesn't mean it's inedible," he told him as he got out a fork and knife out of the drawer.

Percy rolled his eyes. "I think that enchilada is the _definition_ of inedible, man."

Grover paid no attention as he began cutting his food. "You say the same thing about aluminum cans," Grover told him.

Paul sent Percy a confused look. "Grover's a satyr, so he eats… different stuff."

It clicked in Paul's brain that he knew Percy had a half-goat friend, and this was him. "Oh. So… those aren't just weird fur pants?"

Percy shook his head. Paul heard a crunch from the table, and looked over to see Grover holding half of a fork. Grover frowned and pulled the other half of it out of his mouth. He pushed the two pieces together, and examined them. "I'm sure this'll glue back together," he said sheepishly.

Percy let out a mix between a sigh and a chuckle. "You can have it, G-man. Just don't eat the knife."

Grover smiled appreciatively and began chewing on the tongs of his fork.

"Why didn't you go to that restaurant two blocks down if all you wanted out of me was food?" Percy asked jokingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hey!" Grover yelped, indignant. "A guy can't visit his friend every once in a while?"

Percy smiled. "I was just joking, G."

Grover smiled as well. "I know. But I couldn't go to that restaurant today anyway. I can't find one of my feet."

Paul automatically looked to the bottom of Grover's legs. He had a strong urge to look away, but fought past the Mist to really look at his feet. Upon inspection, Paul saw that he did indeed have the bottom half of a goat. His lower legs were thin, and ended in a hoof.

Percy was laughing. "Again? Last time that happened, I had to get it out of the canoe lake! And how'd you get here without a disguise?"

Grover shrugged. "I just relied on the Mist. And I don't know how it happens, man. Sometimes I swear Juniper hides them so I can't leave again. She really hates it when I'm away from camp for more than a few days."

"She just wishes she could go with you, ya know. I kinda feel for her, she wants to help," Percy told his friend. Grover grimaced sadly.

"Why can't she go with you to… wherever you go?" Paul asked.

"Juniper's a tree nymph. She can't go far from her source of power," Percy explained. "So when Grover gets back from searching for demi-gods or saving the Wild, Juniper doesn't want him to leave again."

"It's not like I want to leave her," Grover clarified, "It's just that that's my job, looking for demi-gods and saving nature. Being a Lord of the Wild, and all."

Paul nodded. He wasn't sure he understood everything he had said, but he figured he'd understand soon enough.

"Ok then," Paul said, clapping his hands once in front of him after a minute of silence, filled only with Grover crunching on his fork. "I'm gonna go find the Febreeze. Sally probably won't like the house smelling like smoke all day."

So Paul left Percy with his friend on the kitchen and went to the bathroom to find some air freshener, wondering about detachable feet.

**A/N Sorry it kind of ended abruptly. I'm battling a bad case of writer's block with this story, and I already have a hard enough time ending stories on a good day. Sorry again.**

**I'll probably write another Grover chapter in the future, as someone just gave me an idea that I really like about him, but I didn't see it until I had already written this. So maybe it'll be better than this one.**

**Please review!**


	6. Headquarters

Headquarters

**A/N This idea came to me from omega2199**

**This one is set before the Titan War, when there would be more monsters and battles.**

It was a surprisingly chilly night in New York. Sally and Paul, who had just gotten back to their apartment after a date, were trying to thaw their fingers on their way from the elevator.

Sally sighed. "I can't even find my keys, my fingers won't do what I want them to!"

When Paul didn't reply, she looked up to see him frowning at something ahead of them.

"Looks like you don't need 'em, the door's wide open," Paul muttered. Sally was immediately on high-alert. She knew that she had closed and locked the door before they had left. And Percy was at camp, so he shouldn't be there. Besides, he wouldn't leave the door wide open like this, it would attract monsters right into the apartment.

Paul had his brow furrowed, as did Sally. It was times like these that she wished she had a celestial bronze weapon of some kind. She and Paul started cautiously making their way toward the door.

The elevator behind them dinged merrily, and they both jumped. They turned to see who was coming, and saw two armor-clad teens helping an injured girl down the hall. One of the boys was obviously Percy, you could tell just from the black hair with a streak of gray in it. The other boy, who was supporting the girl's left shoulder, was slightly shorter than Percy and had blonde hair with blue eyes. He had a bow slung over his shoulders. The girl in the middle looked younger than them, maybe twelve or thirteen. She was unconscious.

Percy looked toward the door ahead of him, and ended up looking at his parents. Paul saw a certain look in his face that he never saw, one that emanated command and made Paul believe that anything Percy says, goes.

Percy sighed, but didn't falter in his steps. He was headed toward them. "Hey guys. I was hoping we would have cleared out before you got home."

"What do you mean?" Sally asked. Paul was slightly relieved that he wasn't the only one confused here.

The blonde boy looked up from the girl between them and toward Sally and Paul. "I really hope you don't mind. We just needed a headquarters and infirmary for a few hours, and Percy said his apartment was just up here, so…"

He trailed off, but Paul seriously needed him to continue. "So?" he prompted him. The trio had walked past Paul and Sally, so they began following them toward the open door.

Percy looked back at his parents. "Don't freak out, but there are a few injured demi-gods in the living room."

The blonde snorted. "A _few_? Dude, don't downplay it. They're gonna see 'em all in a sec."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Ok, so more than a few," he admitted.

The blonde scoffed.

"Oh shut it, Will," Percy muttered. He then gathered the girl they were carrying into his arms with ease, one arm at her knees and the other at her shoulders. Paul had to admit he was impressed, the girl couldn't have weighed less than one-hundred twenty pounds. Percy shouldered the door open further so he could get inside.

Once the door was open all the way, Paul could look inside to see at least fifteen people in his living room. Only a third of them appeared to be uninjured, or at the very least not as badly injured as the rest. They were taking care of the other ten teens, running back and forth between the floor, the recliners, and the couch.

Percy deposited the girl he was carrying in an empty corner of the room. He then stood up and surveyed the room.

"Ok! Will, I want you to make a list of the casualties and bring it to me." Will nodded, and accepted the piece of paper and pen that was offered to him from Percy. "I need someone from Apollo to find out why Maggie is unconscious—"

"Maggie from Demeter or Maggie from Hermes?" asked a thin brunette with emerald eyes.

"Hermes," Percy answered. "She's in the corner. Hank, why don't you go take care of her." A muscular guy with blonde hair nodded and headed toward the girl Percy had carried in.

"How many cabin leaders do I have?" Percy asked. Eight people raised their hands. "How many _uninjured _cabin leaders do I have?" Six of them dropped their hands, leaving Annabeth with her hand raised. "Ok. Butch, take over for Will, and then I need any available second-in-commands to follow me and the remaining cabin leaders if your leader is either not here or injured. We need to discuss casualties and how we're getting back to camp." With that, Percy turned and headed toward the kitchen table with one leader, three second-in-commands, and Nico following him.

Sally and Paul stayed in the living room. Sally was looking around the room at the injured teenagers, and Paul was watching Percy. It had been strange to watch his step-son so casually assume that leadership, and interesting to watch the teens around him respond to it. It was obvious that his words were practically law at the moment.

"What did Percy mean by 'casualties'?" Paul heard a prostrate girl with red hair ask. "Doesn't that mean 'deaths'?"

A dirty-blonde boy with shocking gray eyes who was laying next to her shook his head. "No, that's fatalities. Casualties means injuries _or_ deaths, Abby."

Abby nodded slightly. "Good."

Paul looked to where his wife had been a moment earlier, and found that she had left his side to help the remaining uninjured campers help their friends. She was handing a small blonde girl some gauze to wrap around a fallen bronze-haired boy. Paul noticed the large amount of blondes in the room, and made a mental note to ask Percy about it.

"… glad he was with us…"

"… good thing he was here, otherwise I'd've…"

"… did you _see_ him fight those Laistrygonians?…"

All around the room, he could hear praise for Percy. Paul knew that he had gone on several quests—many of which had saved the camp—and that they had recently fought a battle at their camp that had resulted in a few fatalities and injuries, but he had no idea his friends and fellow soldiers were so loyal to him.

"…don't know what we'd do if we ever lost him…"

Paul didn't want to stay on that line of thoughts, knowing how easily he could lose his step-son, so he left the room.

He found Percy and the leaders still in their meeting in the kitchen.

"I could shadow-travel a few people," he heard Nico pipe up.

Percy grimaced. "Nico, you're tired enough as it is from fighting. And there are almost twenty of us here, so that would only help a little. Plus, what if you shadow-travel to New Delhi or something?"

Nico shrugged with one shoulder and dropped it.

"I still think we just need Argus to pick us up in the vans," said Annabeth.

"Are you sure?" Percy asked her. "It's almost ten. You know how grumpy he gets if he doesn't get enough sleep. Remember last Christmas?" The occupants of the room winced, as if remembering something foul.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I planned ahead, Seaweed Brain. Told him to stay up just in case."

Percy nodded. "Ok. Mike," he said, turning to one of the second-in-commands, "can you go IM him?"

Mike nodded and went to the sink.

"Alright then," Percy said. "I think we're done. Thanks, guys."

The occupants of the table got up and went back to the living room, leaving only Annabeth and Percy at the table, and Mike at the sink.

"So," Paul began, to alert them of his presence, "might I ask what the situation is here?"

Percy looked to his step-father. Paul saw exhaustion in his eyes, and wondered how much fighting he had done.

"There was a raid a in a building basement a few blocks down," Percy told him. "We thought it was just a bunch of monsters guarding some celestial bronze weapons, but there were also a lot of turned demi-gods there." Paul saw something akin to betrayal in Percy's eyes. "It was harder than we anticipated, because most of them were actually trained. Eventually we flushed them out and got the weapons, but we've got eleven people injured and it's gonna be a while before we get back to camp."

"There're two vans on the way, Perce," said Mike as he walked away from the sink.

Percy nodded. "Thanks, Mike."

Mike went back to the living room, and Paul remembered what he was going to ask Percy.

"So, here's a weird question: why does it seem like almost all of your friends are blonde?"

Percy and Annabeth smiled. "Just this group, really. A lot of the Athena and Apollo kids are blonde 'cuz their parents are, and that's mostly who went on the raid. Plus me and Nico, then a few Demeter and Hermes kids. But not all of the Hermes kids are _actually_ his children, so there is a lot of hair and eye color in there."

"Wait, not all of Hermes' kids are Hermes' kids?" Paul asked, confusedly.

"Nope," Annabeth answered. "The Hermes cabin takes in any half-bloods that haven't been claimed yet, or children of minor gods. We only have cabins for the Olympians, but that doesn't mean the minor gods don't have children too."

"So there are children who don't ever learn who their godly parent is? Doesn't Hermes mind?"

Annabeth grimaced and shrugged. "He's the god of travelers, so he doesn't mind the extra campers. That's not to say the _campers_ don't mind the extra campers…"

"I stayed in the Hermes cabin when I first got there. Poseidon only claimed me after it was already obvious who I belonged to," Percy added. Paul strained to hear any emotion in his statement, but he heard none.

"Huh," Paul said eloquently.

The room was silent for a few minutes before Annabeth spoke.

"I'm gonna go make sure the weapons are gathered and that everyone is able to walk," she said as she pushed away from the table.

Percy nodded. "I'll help."

They had almost left the room when Percy turned around. "I'm still sorry, Paul. I'll pay if we need to clean any bloodstains or anything."

Paul smiled. "Don't worry about it, Percy."

Percy smiled right back and left to follow Annabeth.

**A/N I don't know. This one felt kind of rushed. I debated whether I should set this before or after the war, and decided on before because I couldn't think of a scenario where Percy would use the apartment as an infirmary otherwise. But I feel like Percy might've been a little OOC, stepping into the leadership roll so easily. And I feel bad, because I pride myself on trying to keep the characters IN character.**

**Oh well. Review with your thoughts, please!**


	7. Dirty Trick

Dirty Trick

**A/N I know, it's been a while, I'm sorry. I really am. I try to write chapters to this and They Never Came Back in alternate order, but I'm having SERIOUS writer's block on that story, so I decided to give myself a break and work on this again.**

**And I would've updated this sooner, but I had a strong urge to read a LOT of Harry Potter fanfics in a small amount of time, so I had to read some PJO books and fanfics to get me back in the groove. Again, I apologize.**

**Anyway. This story is set the summer after the Titan war, and combines multiple requests I've gotten, those requests being "Paul witnesses/gets involved in a monster fight", and "Stoll brothers". I've got plans for a lot of the requests given to me, and will be working on them soon. Please, keep sending them!**

**Hope you enjoy.**

"I'm just saying, it doesn't really make sense," Paul told his step-son.

Percy, grin on his face, shook his head and continued to look ahead of him, avoiding the oncoming foot-traffic. "There's a lot of things about the gods that doesn't make any sense. But they're easily offended, so I don't ask. But that's really one thing I don't want to know."

Paul was quiet for a few minutes while they walked back to the apartment. One thing he enjoyed doing with Percy was discussing his godly family, as he had found that their stories, as told by someone who understood them better than mortals, were quite entertaining. Another question occurred to him.

"Well does she have a belly button?"

After a moment's pause, Percy opened his mouth to answer, but made no sound. His face was a fair color of pink, and Paul realized he had never seen him blush, let alone be the cause of his embarrassment. In this way, at least.

"W-well yeah, she has one, but you make it seem like I should know that, or something…" Percy stammered quickly.

Paul raised his eyebrows and looked at Percy with a barely concealed smirk. "Well, I assumed, what with you being friends for so long. Be hard to miss if she didn't have a belly button."

Percy breathed in relief. "Right, her friend would know that, not just her boyfriend. I know she has a belly button the same way everyone else knows. From… her wearing a swimsuit! Yeah."

Percy was still looking ahead of them, so Paul allowed himself to roll his eyes. His relationship with Annabeth was still pretty fresh, so he was prone to embarrassment when she was involved in some conversations. Paul was glad, in a lot of ways, that the relationship was still working to get out of the "we're totally platonic" phase it seemed to still be in. He definitely wanted to avoid walking in on make-out sessions for as long as he could. But judging by how flushed Percy had gotten at the topic of his girlfriend's belly button and how he knew it was there, he had a feeling he would need to start being careful to knock before entering rooms when Annabeth was around.

"Right. Swimsuit," Paul commented, trying to milk Percy's embarrassment for all it was worth. But instead of a glare, or a blush, or a sarcastic response, he looked over to find Percy slowing his pace to a halt. He was looking to his right, toward a narrow and dark alley. His right hand twitched, itching to hold Riptide.

Paul walked the few steps back to him. "Percy?" he asked. Percy continued watching the alley, his brow furrowing.

"I could've sworn I heard someone…" Percy said, then looked back to Paul. He shrugged, and began walking again. "Must've been—"

Percy's head snapped back to look at the alley, and this time he didn't hesitate before briskly walking toward it, weaving through gaps in the crowd. In his hand was gripping Riptide, ready to be uncapped. Paul followed him.

When they were a a few yards into the alley, Paul heard what had alerted Percy of trouble.

"Connor!"

Paul looked to his step-son, to see that he was tightly gripping his sword, and he had adopted that look he got when he was in a fight.

"Paul, I don't know what's gonna be down here, so—"

Paul cut him off "Percy, I'll be fine."

"I can't guarantee that Paul, and you can't either. I would feel a lot better if you stayed back."

Percy said all of this with an authority that Paul found hard to ignore. He didn't hear any disrespect in his tone, either, just protectiveness. Paul was actually quite touched.

Paul acquiesced that he actually had no idea how to protect himself if things went badly, so he nodded and backed up to the wall behind him and next to a dumpster, hiding in it's shadows.

It was obvious on Percy's face that Paul's position wasn't quite where Percy wanted him, but he left him where he was and walked cautiously down the alley. Riptide, which Paul had slowly become able to see through the Mist, glowed softly in the shadows of the alley. The light barely touched the walls on both sides of Percy, which were probably ten apart.

There was a scuffle to Percy's left, and he quickly brought his blade around to add light to the shadows. Paul leaned forward to try and glimpse what Percy saw there, but suddenly his vision was completely blacked out. He felt a grimy cotton strip cover his face, and was tugged backwards.

"Perc—" he was able to get out, before a large, dirty hand covered his mouth.

He was dragged backward a several feet, his captor obviously much larger than him. "Perfect bait," he heard him say in a low, gravely voice.

Suddenly he stopped, and a voice he had been hoping he would hear soon spoke.

"I'd let him go if I were you," Percy stated. His voice was scary calm, like he had the entire situation under control.

His captor laughed. "And I should do that why, Perseus Jackson?"

Paul briefly wondered how he knew Percy's name, but then realized there probably weren't a lot of monsters, demi-gods, or anything else that hadn't heard of him after what had gone down this summer. Percy snarled at the use of his full name.

"'Cuz the sooner you let him go, the quicker and more painless I'll make your death."

The man behind him chuckled. "Tempting."

Suddenly, Paul and his captor were moving so fast that Paul got dizzy. He vaguely wondered if they were actually moving very fast, and it was the blindfold making him dizzy, but the thought was fleeting. The hand never left his mouth, and an arm was around his ribs, holding him immobile. He tried wiggling around to loosen the hold, but was promptly poked in the ribs by something sharp, most likely a weapon of some kind. Paul ground his teeth in pain as he felt it poke his skin, and he knew that this would happen again if he tried to escape or tried to yell through the hand on his mouth. He tried listening for Percy, but couldn't hear him.

Then, Paul heard a bloodcurdling scream that seemed to be several yards from them. The scream made him cringe, and he would've covered his ears to block out the thoughts of the horrible things this person must be experiencing at the moment, but he was afraid to move his hands for fear he would be jabbed in the ribs again. Then, he realized the scream was familiar.

Panic surged through him as he imagined Percy having things done to him to make him wail like this, but as he listened, he realized the scream wasn't Percy. It was… wait. That didn't make sense.

Again, he and his captor were moving at dizzying speeds. Once more, a yell came from several yards away, again in a voice that sounded unmistakably like his own. He heard scrambling feet, probably Percy, looking for him. He wanted to call out, to tell him he was alright, but the screams drowned out any attempt at talking through the filthy hand on his mouth.

Paul tried to concentrate. He knew a bit about Greek mythology, maybe he could figure out what was going on. The man was humanoid, and much taller than him. That definitely narrowed things down. Then he thought about the screams that sounded like himself, and it clicked. _Cyclopes_! The cyclops was imitating Paul's voice to throw Percy off, and was throwing it to different places so Percy never knew where they were. The end game, though, Paul didn't know.

Once again, they were moving. As they jostled to a stop, Paul's head bumped into the monster's torso, moving his blindfold off of his right eye. He could see they were behind a dumpster, but that was all.

He listened for movement, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hear his step-son. Had the cyclops moved them too far away? Had another monster gotten the best of him? He didn't know. He looked past the dumpster, but saw no golden glow coming from a bronze weapon.

Suddenly, the cyclops tensed, and the hand dropped from Paul's mouth, as did the arm around his torso.

"Really?" he heard a new voice say, one he'd never heard.

"I'm a bit offended you forgot about us," said a second one. This voice was very similar to the first, but still different.

"Well Connor, what monster in it's right mind would choose two sons of Hermes over a son of the Big Three?" said the first voice.

"I'd assume one with basic math skills, Travis." said the second voice, Connor.

Travis made a sound of agreement. "Well Connor, do you think we should show him our thanks for not eating us by killing him quick?"

"I dunno Trav, Percy's pretty pissed at him at the moment. Maybe we should hand him over?"

"Ah," Connor said. Paul was amazed how nonchalant these two teens were. They were each standing with a blade to either side of a monster's neck, and they were talking like they were discussing last night's Mets game. "Well, what do you say, Percy?"

"Eh," he heard Percy say. He jumped, realizing Percy was standing a foot to the left of him, leaning on the dumpster, picking at his nails. These guys were _stealthy_. "You know I don't like killing my half-siblings. You guys go ahead."

"Whatever you say," said Connor.

"Count of three?" asked Travis.

"Wait!" yelped the cyclops. "I—I'm sorry! I promise not to eat you if you let me go! My—my brother will miss me!"

"I'm sure he can find one of your many other brothers to replace you," Percy told him.

"One?" asked Travis.

"Two."

"Three!" they both said at the same time, and jabbed their knives into the monster's neck. He dissolved into gold dust, which the slight wind blew directly onto Paul. He closed his eyes and grimaced as it hit his face.

"Aw, sorry Paul," Percy said as he took the blindfold off of him and pulled him by the arm into a standing position. "Hate it when that happens."

"Why did he turn into dust?" Paul asked as he tried to pat the monster particles out of his hair.

Travis and Connor, who were gallantly dusting off his shirt and pants, both shrugged. "That's just what happens," said Percy. He was looking at the boys, who Paul decided were twins, with something akin to annoyance in his eyes.

The boys both stood up straight, and smiled at Paul with identical smiles, smiles that made Paul a bit uneasy.

Percy, who stood slightly behind the twins, put both of his hands out between the boys. "Give."

Connor and Travis both rolled their eyes and looked at him.

"You just don't trust us, do you?" asked the one on the left, Travis.

Percy shook his head at Travis, eyebrows slightly raised.

Connor grinned and patted Percy on the head. "Smart boy."

Paul watched on in confusion as the twins emptied their pockets. Connor had a wallet, keys, and a pen, whereas Travis held about three dollars in change, and a school ID card. Wait, _his_ school ID card. The one Paul had misplaced the week after school had let out. As Paul looked closer, _all_ of that stuff was his. Percy took the items from the boys and offered them to Paul, noticing his furrowed brow as he did so.

"Paul, these are my friends Travis and Connor Stoll. Sons of Hermes."

"The Jack of All Trades," Travis said, as Connor mock-bowed.

Percy then turned his attention back to them. "So when I heard Travis yelling…"

Connor piped up. "Nope. One-Eye smelled you coming, and decided to use us as bait instead of eating us. So thanks for that."

"Idiot trapped us in a locked dumpster, didn't think we'd be able to get out. Didn't really think that one through, I guess." Said Travis.

"Um, how _did_ you get out?" Paul asked.

Connor flashed him that grin of his, and walked over to a door in the alley. He jiggled the handle, demonstrating that it was locked. Then he put his hand on the deadbolt, closed his eyes in concentration, and Paul heard a heavy click. Connor opened his eyes and turned the handle, swinging the previously locked door open. Paul raised his eyebrows, impressed.

Percy explained. "One of the many things Hermes is the god of is thieves, so they can unlock things. And they've got _very_ sticky fingers. They're good with computers. And money. And—"

"Ok Perce, he's got the gist," Travis cut in before Paul could get overwhelmed.

"So, not to be mean or anything, but… how did you guys get kidnapped by such an idiot?" Percy asked with a smirk on his face.

Both twins turned to glare at him. "Oh please, the whole camp knows the story of Crusty the Mattress Salesman, don't act so high and mighty," Travis told him.

"I was twelve!" Percy defended.

"There are only two of us, and you _and _Annabeth, _and_ Grover got into that mess," said Connor.

Percy pursed his lips. "Good point. Monsters can be clever, let's leave it at that."

Connor shrugged, and Travis raised his eyebrows as the twins both turned around and started toward the mouth of the alley. "Whatever helps you sleep at night," Travis called over his shoulder.

Percy scoffed and rolled his eyes, and they were soon out of sight. Percy looked guiltily toward the door that had been left ajar.

Percy turned back to Paul. "You don't by chance know how to pick a door _locked_, do you?"

**A/N Kay, so: I don't really know if Cyclopes can throw their voices, but for the sake of the story, they can. And I got the list of Hermes' kids talents from The Demigod Diaries, so I wasn't making things up.**

**Please review!**


	8. Empathy Link

Empathy Link

**A/N Ok this one, you get to choose the time it's set:**

**A) After Percy gets home from the Giant War**

**B) Days before the Titan war**

**C) A slightly different reality set after the Titan War where Percy doesn't have the Curse of Achilles.**

**I know, as author, I should be able to just tell you which to choose, but I couldn't decide which was best. I was going to go with A, but none of these one shots have been that far ahead, and the other two are plausible as well. So remember that I said that A was my first choice while picking, but go ahead and pick your favorite.**

**The reason I ask you to do this is that I was words away from finishing the story when all of the sudden I thought "S***! He's invulnerable!". But I really didn't want (or know how) to change it then, so I beg of you not to kill me. Look, I even made it extra long to make up for it! Because I love you all!**

**And don't worry, time lines will all be back to normal in later chapters.**

Paul woke with a start when he heard someone stumbling down the hall outside his and Sally's bedroom. It was mostly dark in the room, with only dim street lights and the LCD alarm clock to give light.

He checked the time: 2:23. He frowned. Percy had gone to bed hours ago. He swung his legs off the bed and stood up, grabbing his robe to put on over his pajamas, and walked over to the door.

As he walked into the living room to find the source of the noise, he saw several things strewn across the couch and the floor in front of it. Percy's rarely-used breastplate was on the couch, with a small backpack next to it that appeared to be empty. Next to the bag was a flashlight with the batteries off to the side. On the floor in front of the couch was a mismatched pair of socks, an orange camp t-shirt, and some black gym shorts. Then there was a bottle of Gatorade, a bag of Doritos, and a hastily made sandwich with indiscernible contents. Suddenly a Baggie of what Paul recognized as ambrosia was tossed next to the pile, and Paul looked up to see Percy standing behind the couch. He was jamming the batteries into his flashlight.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," he told Paul without looking away from the batteries. He took them back out and checked the flashlight for positive and negative signs, then flipped the batteries around and tried again. "I was just gonna leave a note." Percy held up a scrap of paper, which said something about leaving and being back soonish.

Paul rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "A note for what? You look like you're going on a trip."

Percy shrugged with one shoulder and dropped the flashlight into the open bag. "I might, might not. I could be back in a few hours, or a few days. Probably just a few hours though."

Paul frowned. "What for?"

Percy didn't look up as he grabbed his clothing and began shoving it into his bag. "Gotta help Grover, he found a demigod in a school nearby, doesn't live far from here. But it looks like the kid's got a couple of Laistrygonians on his tail, and Grover needs help before they make their move."

Paul racked his brain to remember what a Laistrygonian was, but couldn't remember. "A… Laistrygonian?" Percy nodded. "And, those are…?"

"Canadians."

Paul frowned. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"You've never met a Laistrygonian."

Paul paused, and realized something. "Sounds like you've been planning this…"

Percy shook his head. "Nope," he popped the 'p'.

Paul was confused. "I didn't hear him IM. Or call."

"He didn't," Percy said as he put the food in on top of the bag's other contents.

"Are you confusing me on purpose?" Paul asked.

Percy finally looked up at Paul and gave him a grin. "Nah, just being deliberately vague."

Paul noticed his choice of words, and figured Annabeth was having a positive influence on his vocabulary. "Well, can you give me a straight answer?"

Percy zipped up his now full bag and put it on his shoulder and grabbed the breastplate, then put the note explaining his absence on the coffee table in an obvious place. He looked to Paul.

"Grover sent me a message through our empathy link while I was asleep. A lot of the time, empathy link messages are vague, or hard to see, but I got a general message. He wants me to help him get this daughter of Demeter out of the city and to camp. The girl's dad already knows the plan, but Grover is having trouble getting her out of the apartment because there are a couple Laistrygonians looking for her. So I'm gonna help them out."

"Well why are you packing for a trip?"

Percy looked a little exasperated at having to explain everything, probably because he was in a hurry to get out of there. "Last time I helped Grover get kids out of a school, I ended up taking a side trip across the country. Demigods can never assume to know what'll happen. Now I gotta go, I'll probably see you in the morning." Percy started toward the door, and on a whim, Paul stepped in front of him.

"Wait," he told him.

Percy tried hard to hide his look of annoyance, but Paul saw through it. "Paul, I'm sorry, but I have to—"

"I'll drive you."

Percy stopped and looked at his step-dad in confusion. "Paul, this could be dangerous—"

"I'm just asking to drive you. I don't know, I just feel like… I'd like to drive you. You said it wasn't far."

Percy regarded his mom's husband for a moment, thinking. He had heard what Paul had said, about having a feeling, and Percy knew better than to go against a gut instinct. He picked up a pen and walked to his note and hastily wrote 'Paul's coming too'. He looked at Paul and walked to the door again. "Alright. You can drive."

oOoOoOo

The drive was uneventful, with sparse conversation. Percy sat in the passenger's seat, with his eyes closed. Paul could tell he wasn't asleep, so he asked what he was doing.

He kept his eyes closed as he responded. "Checking my empathy link for news. I'm trying to feel for his emotions, but he's better at feeling mine than I am at his. Either I'm doing it wrong, or he's calm right now."

"What exactly is an empathy link?"

Percy was quiet for a minute before he spoke. "It's hard to explain. We're like… connected at the mind. I think it's some kind of nature thing. Grover did it when I was thirteen, and that's how I knew to save him from Polyphemus. But I don't know how well it works, and it's possible that if one of us dies, the other will too."

Paul raised his eyebrows at this. He was used to Percy being annoyingly laid-back when discussing his own death, but he would've thought he would be more concerned about dropping dead at any given moment.

Percy must've guessed what Paul was thinking, because he spoke again. "Don't worry about it Paul, it probably won't happen. A, because I have faith in Grover and his ability to not die. And B, because I'm not even sure that's what'll happen. People keep saying how unreliable and worthless empathy links are, but this one has come through for me several times. Don't go planning my funeral just yet."

Paul gave a small smile that Percy didn't see. "Don't worry, I won't."

They finally arrived at a very expensive looking apartment, and Percy told him to pull into the parking lot behind it. The courtyard behind the building was impressive, with a nice pool and lots of trees. Definitely an expensive apartment complex.

"This is it," he said as he scanned the side of the building. "There," he said, and pointed to one window.

"What?" Paul asked and looked at the numerous windows. They all looked almost identical.

"Third floor, fourth window in. See the window box?"

Paul looked to where he had told him and saw a very impressive flower box on the window sill. It was overflowing with flowers and plants of different colors. It occurred to Paul that the child Percy was here to help was a daughter of Demeter, so it made sense that they would have a cool flower box.

"You figured out where they lived just by looking for impressive plants?" Paul asked, not sure whether to be impressed or worried about Percy's deductive reasoning.

Percy looked at him confusedly, then back to the window. Then he looked back at Paul. "No, I just remember from the dream. But good catch."

Paul was somewhat relieved that that wasn't how Percy was tracking his friend.

Percy looked at his breastplate and backpack with criticism, then decided to leave it in his seat.

"Stay in the car," he told his step-dad, then got out of the car. He was about to close the door when he knelt back down to look at Paul. "And by stay in the car, I mean stay in the car. Not like on TV when someone says stay in the car and they _don't_, I mean—"

"Percy I get it. I'll stay in the car."

Percy looked at him a second longer, then nodded. He stood straight again, then bent back over.

"Unless the car is about to be squished or something, 'cuz Laistrygonians—"

"Oh, I'm not stupid Percy, just go!" Paul said and pushed Percy's head out of the car.

Paul watched as Percy walked away from the car, but didn't understand why he wasn't headed for the door. He was headed for… oh. The fire escape.

As he made his way up the metal escape, Paul was surprised at his strength. Pulling himself up the ladder until he reached the stairs, he was obviously very strong. He finally got to the correct landing, and Paul sat back in his seat.

After several uneventful minutes, Paul was just beginning to wish he had brought something to entertain himself with when he heard a commotion above him, near the window Percy was headed for. Shortly after the sound started, there was a female shriek and suddenly a large mass fell from the sky and into the pool. It had obviously been a body, but after falling from that height, Paul knew with a certainty the person was dead or unconscious now. He felt the urge to jump out of the car and see if he could help, but suddenly there was fire raining down from above.

"You can't get away that easily, Jackson!" he heard someone bellow.

"Yeah we're not that stupid!" said a second voice. Coming down the now flaming fire escape were two enormous men, both of them easily eight feet tall. They were having trouble getting down the stairs, as they were too tall to stand up straight. As they jeered and threw insults at his step-son, they addressed the pool. With a jolt Paul realized it had been _Percy_ who had fallen from that height, and suddenly felt hopeful that the fall hadn't killed him.

One of the Ogres threw what looked like a steaming cannonball toward the pool, the ball bursting into flames as it left the monster's fingers. It flew quickly toward its target, before it was doused with water only feet from the pool. It fell to the asphalt, harmless. Paul looked to where the water had come from to see Percy standing on the surface of the water, swirls of water surrounding his feet. He looked, for lack of a better term, pissed.

"Look Bone Breaker, we made him angry!" said one of the monsters to his companion, smiling evilly as he jumped the last fifteen feet to the ground. He threw another cannonball at Percy, which was again easily deflected, but the monster was not deterred. He was quickly joined by the other giant.

Percy uncapped Riptide and stepped out of the pool, swinging his sword lazily. Paul was again struck by how scary Percy was in a fight; he always looked completely in control of the situation.

"I'm feeling generous today, so I'll give you three options. First, you can leave and hope I never see you again. Second, you can try and fight me and I'll kill you quickly. Third, you can try and get to my friends in the building, and I'll kill you in a much more painful fashion. I'll give you a moment to discuss this," Percy told them. It was kind of like watching a lion play with its food.

The monster on the right turned to Bone Breaker with his head bowed, "I dunno, I think the first one is best—"

"Earwax, you idiot!" Bone Breaker yelled at his companion. Then he turned back to Percy. "You forgot the fourth option, where we eat you, your half-blood friend, and the satyr. We choose the fourth option."

Percy put his sword behind his back and held it with both hands and paced slowly, looking at the ground and shaking his head. "Nope, that won't work."

Earwax turned and whispered loudly in Bone Breaker's ear, "See boss, I _told_ you, we should've gone for the first—"

"Shut UP Earwax!"

Percy rolled his eyes and brought Riptide around to his front. "Ok, time's up. Now I get to choose for you."

Both heads snapped back toward him at the same time, their wild eyes looking bloodthirsty and their teeth bared. Earwax stepped toward Percy, his last two cannonballs in each hand. "As he said, we choose the fourth one."

He threw both of the steaming balls at Percy, both of them catching fire as they left his hands, and advanced on Percy as he was distracted.

Percy ducked and rolled underneath the flaming cannonballs, coming to stand again in time to slice through the oncoming monster. The giant stumbled toward the pool for a few steps before crumbling to dust. Percy turned to the remaining monster with his sword raised in a defensive position, only to find that he had run in the opposite direction. At first, Paul had thought the remaining giant had fled. But upon further investigation, he saw that he was headed toward the fire escape. Percy chased after him.

Paul had completely forgotten what they were there for. Remembering, he looked up the fire escape for Grover and the demigod. He found them on the second floor landing, trapped due to the surrounding flames. Grover had his arms around the girl to keep her safe, but was obviously panicking at the close proximity of the flames.

Meanwhile, the monster was headed for the ladder. His long legs carried him faster than Percy could run, so he was there in seconds. He jumped and grabbed the ladder, holding on and beginning to climb. A gold flash went through the air, and suddenly a bronze sword was stuck in the building, having cut through the escape ladder like a hot knife through butter. Percy had just thrown the sword, and actually looked a little surprised it had done as he'd hoped. The monster came crashing to the ground butt first, leaving a Laistrygonian-butt-sized crater in the asphalt. The crash was loud, and Paul wondered how much longer it was until the mortals started calling the police.

Unfortunately, this only made the monster angrier. Roaring with anger, he threw his last remaining cannonball at Percy.

Percy, who had been distracted by Grover and the girl, didn't notice the projectile until it was inches away. He moved at the last second, but still the ball clipped his left elbow as he dodged to the right. He stumbled a bit, grimacing, but the damage must not have been that bad.

A few yards away, the giant had solved his problem of being weaponless. He ripped a pipe from the apartment wall, steam billowing from the pipes that were still attached to the building. He swung the pipe around, coming to face Percy with that mad look in his face. He grinned evilly at him, showing his shark-like teeth. As the giant advanced leisurely on him, Percy began looking around wildly for a makeshift weapon. Paul remembered Percy telling him that Riptide would always return to his pocket. He didn't say how long that usually took though.

The monster swung at Percy, and Percy jumped backward and out of the way of the jagged metal. Again and again, the monster swung his pipe at him, but Percy's combat training and ADHD kicked in and kept him moving. Percy kept trying to lure him toward the pool, but the monster knew what he was trying to do. Once they got within a few yards of the pool, the monster grinned menacingly and backed up several steps.

"You're not fooling me, son of Poseidon. We fight on land, so that I can kill you easier."

Percy had to think quickly. Casting his gaze around his surroundings, he saw a pool scoop a few feet to his right. He could use it as a last resort weapon until Riptide decided to make its reappearance. He dove to the right, grabbing the pole and standing up again. He quickly snapped the net off the end and held it offensively as he ran back to fight the monster.

The Laistygonian's weapon was far stronger than his pole, so Percy had to fight carefully. Instead of being able to deflect the giant's strikes with his own weapon, he had to dive out of the way and only fight offensively. And while the monster had little to no swordsmanship, Percy still found it difficult to get around the pipe.

On one lucky swing by the giant, the jagged end of the pipe hit Percy across the chest, sending him stumbling backwards. Percy dropped his pole and looked at his chest, where there were crimson blossoms making their way across his torso. Percy looked into his attacker's face in anger and surprise, before the giant swung his pipe again and hit him square in the stomach. Percy flew backwards a few feet before landing hard on his back. The monster made his way toward Percy, who was gasping for air after having the oxygen blown out of him. The Laistrygonian kneeled next to Percy, a look of satisfaction on his face.

"Perfect. Now I can have one meal for here, and two well-done meals for later," the monster told him and gestured to the second floor landing where Percy's friends were still trapped by the ever-growing flames. "And I've got new barbecue sauce."

Percy glared up at the monster. Then, Percy's eyes widened slightly and his mouth broke into an evil and knowing smile.

"And I've got a sword."

Without a moment's hesitation, Percy grabbed his pen from his pocket and uncapped Riptide with his right hand and the blade went through the giant's chest. The giant crumbled to dust quickly, and Percy dropped his sword to the side.

Paul took this as his cue to jump from the car, as he'd been itching to do since Percy had clipped his elbow on the cannonball. Actually, at that time he had unbuckled and started to open the door before he had reminded himself his promise to Percy. And of the fact that he'd probably only present another thing for Percy to worry about.

Paul got out of his car in record time and bolted to Percy. He had expected Percy to jump up and put out the growing flames as soon as the monsters were gone, but he hadn't. Paul skidded to a stop next to Percy and knelt.

"The thing never comes when I want it. Always waits 'til the last second," he muttered to himself. Paul hoped he was talking about his sword and not his step-father, but didn't respond to his statement.

"Percy, are you ok? What do I do?"

Percy shook his head and started to sit up. Bad idea, he realized to late, and he fell back to his back closing his eyes. "I'm just gonna nap here," he told Paul.

Paul looked at the wound on Percy's chest and saw that it was a wide gash. Of course he was going to be tired. Blood loss would do that to a person.

Paul shook his head vehemently and grabbed Percy's shoulders. "No Percy, let's—"

"PAUL!" He heard from above him. He looked up to see Grover yelling at him from the balcony. The flames were feet away from being too close to the satyr. "The pool!"

Paul frowned, then understood. He looked from Percy's unconscious form to the pool, which was ten feet away.

"Sorry Percy, this might hurt," he muttered as he put his arms under Percy's shoulder and knees. He slowly picked him up off the ground, using strength Paul knew would not be there if he wasn't running on pure adrenaline. He made his way to the edge of the pool, and realized he had no idea how he was supposed to get him in there. He looked up to Grover.

"Just throw him in! He'll be fine!" he yelled, gesturing with his hands to just toss him. Paul shrugged and did as he was asked. Percy rolled out of his arms and into the deep end of the pool.

Paul stood at the edge of the water for a few seconds, wondering what he should do. He felt a little helpless at the moment. After a few moments of tapping his foot and waiting for Percy to get out and save the day, he decided to help fight the flames. He ran to the building and began unrolling the water hose.

When he had enough, he pulled it away from the building and began spraying at the nearest flames. He felt good about his progress before he looked up.

The flames had grown away from the fire escape and now covered most of the side of the building from the fourth floor down. Mercifully, Grover and the girl were in a patch of unharmed building, but they wouldn't be for long. Suddenly, he realized there were sirens near them, getting closer. Relieved, he lowered his hose.

Paul heard a rumbling coming from where the hose was attached to the building, and looked up. All of the sudden the hose broke away from the faucet, and water streamed down the asphalt. Next he heard the fire hydrant spring a leak before exploding, and before he knew it, there was water all around him. He looked behind him to see Percy standing knee deep in the pool, directing large amounts of water to put out the flames. Paul let himself stand back and be impressed.

He ousted the flames surrounding his friends first, then moved to other places. It didn't take long until the flames were extinguished, leaving a mangled and steaming fire escape dangling from the side of the building. Percy let his small storm die down, dropping his arms to his sides in exhaustion. Paul saw that the injuries on his chest and elbow were nothing but scars now, thanks to the water's healing abilities.

Grover and the girl cautiously made their way down the escape, with Paul and Percy helping them when they got to the ladder that Percy had cut down. The girl seemed to be in shock, as she stared at the burnt building. Then she turned around and faced the three of them.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD JUST HAPPENED?" she shrieked at them. All three men clamped their hands to their ears, the tween able to reach tones that could shatter glass.

The firetruck finally made it's appearance, a few blocks away and headed closer. Percy ushered the girl to the car, waving at Paul and Grover to follow. "We'll explain everything, let's just go before there's a misunderstanding."

"What do you mean?" asked the girl. "We didn't start it, we wouldn't get in trouble with them."

"Mortals aren't always very understanding," Percy told her as he opened her car door for her to get in.

She gave him a funny look. "Mortals?" she asked, before Grover gently but urgently pushed her into the car. Paul, Grover and Percy were all in the car and pulling out of the back entrance in amazing time, before the firetruck had pulled in. The girl quickly got impatient with the lack of answers. "Hello?! Someone tell me what's going on!"

So for the rest of the ride to Long Island, Paul heard for the second time in his life the explanation of Greek gods, monsters, weapons, demigods, and various other things. And once the girl was open to this new idea, which she had been a lot faster than Paul had been, she had been chock full of questions, prompting Paul to learn things he hadn't known before. Like the fact that Medusa's eyes would turn you to stone even after her death, and that Hephaestus had a reality T.V. channel in Olympus, and that Demeter had an obsession with cereal. Actually, he had learned a LOT about Demeter.

By the time they pulled up to Half Blood Hill, the girl was buzzing with energy and Grover and Percy were struggling to catch up with her.

"So I'll get to stay in a cabin filled with my other siblings? How many do I have? How many cabins are there? Are you in charge, Percy? Do you live here too? Where does Grover live? Will I see you guys again?"

As she continued asking questions, Percy leaned over to Grover. "Does she remind you of a certain son of Hades?"

Grover nodded to Percy, then went back to trying to pay attention to the girl as they got out of the car. Percy helped the girl to the top of the hill with Grover, just to make sure there were no last minute attacks, then went back to the car and collapsed into the passenger's seat. Paul wordlessly pulled away and headed back toward the city.

They drove a few miles in silence before Percy spoke. "Thanks."

Paul looked at Percy, then back at the road. "What for?"

"For coming with. Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't put me in the water. And if we hadn't gotten out of there as fast as we did, we would've had some serious lying to do."

Paul nodded. "No problem, Percy."

They drove for quite a ways before Paul spoke again.

"I didn't do that, did I? Ask that many questions, I mean," he asked. Percy shook his head.

"Nah, at least you gave me time to answer your questions."

"Speaking of questions, she asked some good ones," Paul began. Percy groaned, but smiled as Paul asked him the same questions the girl had, but at a much slower rate.

oOoOoOo

The next morning when Paul turned on the news, he smiled and shook his head as he watched them report a 'freak storm, creating damaging winds and lightning to spark the west side of the building'. Mortals were so creative sometimes.

**A/N See? Told you it'd be extra long. More than 4,500 words for one chapter!**

**So I hope you liked it despite the problem I voiced in the first author's note. I tried to keep the Laistrygonians in character, but I couldn't for the life of me find SoM. So the limited information on them I got was from from SoN and the PJO Wiki. And Bone Breaker the Laistrygonian was a little too smart, I think. But I guess this chapter will have to be the one full of inaccuracies. I hope you don't hate me now.**

**Anyway, please review and tell me if you chose A, B, or C! And don't forget to pass along your characters and/or scenarios!**


	9. Cattle Prods

**Cattle Prods**

**A/N Yeah, it's been a while. Sorry 'bout that.**

**This is one of the last few chapter ideas that I have that hasn't been altered by requests that I've gotten. So if you're wondering when I'll start writing your requests, I'll probably start that next chapter, or at the latest, the chapter after next. But I can never have enough ideas, so PLEASE keep sending them. Don't be afraid to request characters that I've already written, as long as you give me a new scenario as well. Heck, send me just a scenario and I can fill in the rest. I'm flexible.**

**Also, may I just say that I love you all? I can? Ok, then. I LOVE YOU ALL!**

**I was all worried that the last chapter wouldn't get as good of a response, because it was a little different than the others, with a little less comedy and a little more Paul-gets-involved. But I woke up the morning after I posted it and checked my email, and OH MY GODS. I about had a heart attack. I mean, I'm just starting out, and I'm used to getting more feedback with each chapter, but DAMN. That was a lot of feedback. SO THANK YOU AGAIN. Did I mention I love you?**

**Ahem. Ignoring that gross public display of affection, let's just get to the story. Shall we?**

**Set the winter after the Titan War.**

Paul should know by now that if he's alone with Percy, something will happen.

Well, actually he _does _know that, and it's always on the forefront of his mind when he's with him. But now he's gonna have to work into his mind that things don't always happen when it's just the two of them. They can happen when they're surrounded by people, and in a public place. Like, say, a Starbucks.

Paul didn't normally go to Starbucks. They were expensive, the sizes were confusing, and the barista at the store closest to them was rude. Other than that though, they were fine. But he usually just got coffee from the teacher's lounge at Goode.

Unfortunately, the coffee machine had broken yesterday, leaving the teachers caffeine deprived and grumpy today. So when Paul had parked the car in front of the apartment building after school, Percy had hopped out of the passenger's seat and directed Paul down the sidewalk away from the door to their building and toward the corner, where a Starbucks was located. Paul, being exhausted, did not fight him.

"We could just make coffee at home, Percy," he offered, but Percy shook his head.

"You look like Hades, Paul. You'd fall asleep before the coffee was done," Percy said right before they went through the door. A rush of warm air hit Paul, and he suddenly didn't mind so much that he was there.

"Well I don't know what Hades looks like, so I'm hoping that's a compliment," Paul joked. Percy led him to a booth seat next to a window and went back to the counter to order, not even dignifying Paul with a response. Paul sat and in a few minutes, Percy was back next to him.

"It'll be done in a second," Percy said as he sat across from him. Paul nodded and rubbed his eyes.

When he opened them again, a pretty brunette barista was next to them with their order, eyeing Percy with interest. "Your order, sir," she said, addressing Percy. Percy looked up, surprised.

"That was quick," he told her as he fished his money out of his pocket.

She smiled, in a flirtatious way. "Slow day," she simpered as she put down the drinks. Paul took a fleeting look at the counter, seeing plenty of people who had been there before them and didn't yet have their order. He rolled his eyes at this girl's obvious attempt to flirt with Percy. He was pretty sure the baristas didn't usually deliver the order.

Percy wasn't buying it. "Uh huh," he said as he gave her the money. "Thanks," he said and turned back to the table. The girl's flirtatious smile melted into a dangerous scowl, and she turned away.

Paul smirked and shook his head. Percy, who was about to take a drink of his coffee, noticed and stopped. "What?"

"Nothing," Paul said and grabbed his drink. It was almost to his lips when it was suddenly yanked from his hand and slammed onto the table. The lid popped off because the cup was squeezed too hard, and the steaming liquid sloshed onto the table. One look at Percy's drink said the same had happened to him. Both had surprised and annoyed faces on and looked to the person who had done it.

Next to their table was a large muscular girl with stringy brown hair who looked like she had a permanent glare. She wore a brown army jacket over carpenter jeans, with a hint of an orange shirt underneath. Through one of her pants' many loops was a long… thing. It was probably a weapon, but he couldn't make it out. It was most likely the Mist covering it up, which was odd. He always tried to force himself to see through the Mist. Whatever it was, it sort of resembled a cattle prod at the moment.

"Sorry ladies, tea time's over," she growled.

Percy groaned and ran his hand over his face. "Clarisse, what're you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same, Sea Brat. You're obviously not here for the right reasons," she snapped at him.

He looked at her incredulously. "I live _feet_ from here. And in case you hadn't noticed, this is a coffee shop. The 'right reason' to be here, is to drink coffee. Which is what we were doing, before you showed up."

The girl put her hand on her weapon and glared at Percy. "If I hadn't shown up, you would've drank your drinks. And who knows what she put in them."

"Who's 'she'?" Percy asked, looking around.

Clarisse rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Your new girlfriend," she said mockingly and gestured to the barista who had delivered their drinks. Paul and Percy turned to look at the girl, who pretended she hadn't been staring at them and hurriedly began wiping down the counter closest to her.

Percy looked back at Clarisse. "What makes you think she put something in our drinks? And you never answered my question; what're you doing—"

Clarisse put a hand over Percy's mouth and shoved him over a foot so she could sit on the bench too. She was looking out the window at someone crossing the street, who was wearing a green apron over a black skirt and shirt. She looked like she was just coming to work, but Clarisse followed her every move.

Percy yanked her hand off of his mouth and glared at her. "For the love of the gods, would you just tell me what is going on?" he snapped at her.

Clarisse, without looking at Percy, grabbed his jaw and turned his head to look out the window at the girl. "I've been following her all day," she jerked his head back toward the barista, "and I think that's her apprentice. Tell me, Prissy, are they human?"

Percy pushed her arm away so that she wasn't gripping his jaw. He took a closer look at the girl Clarisse had been following—who was now walking in the door—and scowled.

"No," Percy admitted. "They're not."

Clarisse smirked and patted Percy's head—though it looked more like she was smacking him for all she was worth.

As Percy and Clarisse began to insult each other and bicker, Paul looked behind him at the two monster girls. They were talking in hushed tones, when suddenly the one from outside looked over at their table with a wicked grin. Her eyes flashed blood red for a moment, then flashed back to brown. Yeah, Paul was pretty sure they weren't human.

Then both barista/girl/monsters started staring at their table, both of their eyes bright red. Paul turned around in his seat and faced the two teens, who looked like they were about to get into a fist fight with each other. "Sorry to interrupt, but they're staring at us like we're their next meal," he whispered quickly.

They both snapped their heads toward the threat. Percy then leant across the table to Paul.

"Paul, run," he muttered, before standing up.

Luckily for Percy, the café was only filled with a cheerleading team and a few other patrons, otherwise his next diversion wouldn't have worked.

"Ah! A rat just ran across the counter!" he yelled. It was horrible acting, but it worked. The cheerleaders all simultaneously jumped up and shrieked before causing a mini stampede out of the store. Even if the other people in the store didn't want to leave, they had no choice as they were sucked into the wave of people going out the door.

And if Paul had been paying closer attention, he would've realized that he was supposed to follow the people. But it was too late now, because the brunette monster who had waited on them had now locked Percy, Clarisse and him inside. She then walked over to the new monster.

Paul looked around to see that the teens were no longer at the table, but in the middle of the room. Apparently during the chaos they had moved tables and chairs around so that they were by the walls and out of their way. Percy had Riptide out, and Clarisse was holding her weapon. Now, when Paul looked at it hard enough, he could see that it was a five-foot-long spear with a barbed tip that glowed red with electricity. Paul wondered if the Mist had been thicker with all of the other people there, keeping him from seeing her weapon until now.

The lead monster, who had a blonde bob and a perky smile, stood with her hands on her hips watching the teens. "It was, like, really nice of you to get the mortals out of here. It'll be _soooo_ much easier to kill you without them getting in the way. Right, Carrie?"

The brunette, Carrie, smirked evilly. "Right Kelsi," she responded, then began morphing before everyone's eyes. The color drained from her skin until she was as white as chalk, her red eyes standing out in stark contrast. Fangs grew from her mouth, and Paul would've said she was a vampire if it weren't for her legs, which had changed as well. Her right leg was now bronze, and the left was the leg of a donkey. Paul thought back to his knowledge of Greek myths and realized the monster were empousai, servants of Hecate.

She quickly advanced on Clarisse, her steps making a _clomp-clang-clomp-clang _noise. With a running start and a hiss, Carrie launched herself at Clarisse.

Clarisse, not batting an eye, raised her spear so that it was chest level with the flying monster. With a zap, the spear went right through the girl, the tip protruding from her back. Angry and surprised, Carrie glared at Clarisse one last time before she dissolved into monster dust around the spear.

Percy raised his eyebrows appraisingly at Clarisse, then looked back to the remaining monster. "That was easy," Percy remarked.

_And a little anticlimactic_, Paul thought to himself.

"You idiots!" Kelsi shrieked. Paul snapped his head back to look at her. She had transformed as well, the difference between her and Carrie being that Kelsi's hair was on fire. "You think you're so strong, killing a young apprentice. Let's see you best me! I haven't been beaten for one hundred years!"

"Yeah, let's see," Percy said, and advanced on Kelsi. He swung his sword at her torso. As the sword made contact with her side, she burst into flames and was gone. Paul thought this strange, since he had seen Percy kill several monsters and none of them had done anything but turn into dust.

Percy didn't look happy with this result either. In the split second after the flames disappeared, he quickly spun around to face Clarisse again, just in time to see Kelsi roundhouse-kick her in the back of the head with her bronze leg.

Too late for him to do anything, Percy watched Clarisse crumple. He looked back up at Kelsi in fury, who simply looked back at him with a triumphant smirk. Clarisse and Percy had definitely not gotten along, but Paul could tell Percy did not wish her harm.

Kelsi walked away from Clarisse and toward Percy. "Problem, demigod?" She asked him with a saccharine smile. She paced slowly, walking back and forth in front of Percy but not close enough to be in harm's way. "I thought you were in the process of besting me?"

Again, Percy ran at her with his sword raised. She smirked at him evilly, no hint of fear or intimidation on her face. When he was about to run her through, she dissolved into flames once more. She reappeared by the counter, leaning against it with her elbow. She laughed, and Percy spun to glare at her.

_"You can't get me,"_ she taunted him. Percy growled and ran at her, and she cackled as he dove at her. Again, she disappeared. She reappeared a few feet behind Percy, and he swung around with Riptide to slash at her. She disappeared and showed up behind the counter.

"Tsk tsk," she patronized him. "Here I am, weaponless, winning a battle against the invulnerable hero of Olympus." She shook her head. "Pathetic."

Percy was glaring at his opponent, but suddenly his eyes lit up with mischief. He lowered his weapon to show he wasn't about to attack. "Well if you like, I'll give you time to get a weapon. I think I see a knife next to the coffee cake."

Kelsi frowned disbelievingly and cocked her head slightly. "You're lying. Why would you allow me to gain a weapon?"

Percy put on an innocent face and shrugged. "Well I'd feel a little better if I was beaten by an enemy with a weapon. You know, a pride thing."

Kelsi seemed to be buying it. She smirked a bit. "Wise of you to accept your fate, godling." She searched the desert display in front of her for the knife, but found nothing. "Erm. Where did you say it was?"

"Oh by the coffee cake. Behind you." Kelsi turned to look over her shoulder. "Not directly behind you. Back up a few feet, it's by the coffee machine." Kelsi turned and found it, then made her way toward it. As she grabbed it, Paul heard a faint hissing noise. It progressively grew louder as she turned around and brandished her new weapon. Her evil smirk told Paul she either didn't hear anything or was too excited by her impending victory to care.

Suddenly the two coffee machines behind her exploded, sending scalding water and bits of shrapnel at the monster. Her hair was extinguished and her face contorted into a mask of rage and surprise, and Percy made his move.

In three swift strides, Percy was upon her. Without waiting, he sliced from her left shoulder to her opposing hip. She dissolved without another snarky word, this time into the appropriate golden dust.

Paul exhaled a sigh of relief. He never doubted his step-son's abilities, but seeing these fights put him on edge. Also, he was glad he could stop ducking behind this upturned table. His knees were hurting.

Percy walked back to Clarisse's prone form, and Paul joined him. "I guess we should wake her up," Percy muttered like he was unhappy about it.

"Probably," Paul replied. "I've heard that if someone gets knocked out, you should wake them up by putting bath salts under their nose. We don't have any of those, but maybe coffee would be—"

Paul stopped talking when Percy dropped the butt of his sword onto Clarisse's stomach. It bounced back up slightly and Percy grabbed the blade out of the air as Clarisse came to. She reflexively tightened her abs, rolled to the side and groaned.

"Or… I guess that works too," Paul said.

"Get up Boar Head, fights over," Percy informed Clarisse. She sat up and rubbed the back of her head, muttering obscenities about empousai and sons of Poseidon. She stopped when Percy offered his hand. She eyed it and its owner warily before taking it. He helped her up to a standing position and dropped her hand as soon as possible.

"Blondie?" Clarisse asked.

"Gone. Didn't know what hit her."

Clarisse grunted. "Probably because she was marveling at your awful technique," Clarisse said.

Percy just rolled his eyes. Then he addressed Paul. "You still want a coffee?" he asked him.

Paul shook his head. "Nope, this adrenalin rush will last me for a while."

He nodded. Then he looked back at Clarisse, looking as if he was about to say something that pained him. He sighed. "We have nectar and ambrosia at the apartment, do you need any?"

Clarisse looked affronted. "For _this_?" she asked, gesturing to her head where she had gotten kicked. She scoffed. "Please. I've wad horse," she said and stumbled. Paul raised his eyebrows worriedly at her misspoken words while Percy tried to contain his laughs. Paul had a feeling she needed a bit of godly help with her obvious concussion.

Before Paul could say anything to convince her to accept their offering of help, she walked (with a few stumbles) away to behind the counter. She grabbed the canister of whipped cream and sprayed it directly into her mouth. When she had gotten her fill, she slammed the can back down to the counter, wiped the excess cream from her lips with the back of her hand, and proceeded to leave.

"I've always wanted to do that," she told them as she left the café.

Paul watched her leave, then asked Percy, "Should we let her leave? She seems a little out of it."

Percy was still smiling at Clarisse's expense. He shook his head. "Nah, she'll be fine. Didn't you hear? She's 'wad horse'." Percy then started out the door, and Paul followed him.

When Percy was almost out the door, he stopped. "Hold on," Percy told him and went back to the counter. Paul watched bemusedly as he walked behind the counter. Was there another monster? Was the last one still alive somehow?

Percy grabbed the whipped cream canister and sprayed it directly into his mouth as well. Just like Clarisse, he slammed it back down and wiped his mouth before walking to the door again.

"Ok, we're good," Percy told him around his mouthful of whipped cream, but it sounded more like 'ohay, wuh guh'. Percy went out the door and Paul followed, leaving the café in disrepair for someone else to clean up.

**A/N This one took a lot longer than I thought it would for two reasons. One, I completely deviated from my original plan for the chapter. Like, this is nothing like it was supposed to be. And two, it took a while to figure Clarisse out. I didn't want there to be too much hostility, or too much friendship. She's just hard for me to capture, I guess.**

**I'm gonna promote now. And for once, NOT FOR ME!**

**If you're looking for a sad Percabeth story with an interesting concept, go check out Tightrope by InnocentFighter. If you read it and don't—at the very least—pout, then you are stronger than me. I think I actually sniffled at one point, and I rarely get emotional about fanfics. If I sense a feel coming on, I just force myself to think "it's not real; if it really happened, Rick would tell us" and so on. It's a defense mechanism.**

**If only I had a Rick-proof defense mechanism; then I could live a stress free life.**

**Sorry if I'm babbling, it's late and I'm tired and my ADD is acting up.**

**Anywho, reviews are the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I would love some!**


	10. Flaming Bedsheets

Flaming Bedsheets

**A/N THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR HOW LONG IT TOOK FOR ME TO UPDATE AND I'M SORRY.**

**Seriously. If I were to give you lame excuses, I'd say that I was preoccupied with college things, and illnesses, and birthdays, and state fairs, all of which are true but you don't care so I won't bore you. Just know that I'm sorry it took so long and I'll try to be quicker than this in the future.**

**But I come bearing gifts! Here, we have a highly requested character and a mixture of a few scenarios given to me by my lovely readers, for your reading pleasure. Hopefully this will live up to your standards of what is more than likely _the most_ popular character in the HoO series.**

**Happy reading!**

_Bang bang bang_.

Paul looked up from his papers and to the door.

_Odd,_ Paul thought. _The doorman didn't tell us anyone was coming._

Shrugging, he put down the tests he was grading and got up from his chair to answer the door. He would've gotten Percy to answer it for him, but Paul had finally convinced him to get to his homework, even though it was Friday. He wasn't about to jeopardize that.

He opened the door to find a young boy standing there, probably a few years younger than Percy, and he was smoking; not like smoking-a-cigarette smoking, but more of an I-just-escaped-a-burning-building smoking. His shirt was tattered and burnt, and he wore a tan tool-belt around his waist.

"Oh," the boy said, and Paul tore his eyes from this teen's ruined clothing to his elvish face. The Latino boy was obviously panicked. His eyes darted behind Paul and into the apartment for a moment before looking back at the older man. The teen forced a smile onto his lips before speaking.

"Hello. I'm, uh," the boy faltered before speaking again, "I'm with United Vacuum Co., and I'd like to… sell you a vacuum!"

Paul looked at the salesman perplexedly. He didn't realize door-to-door vacuum salesmen still existed. He also didn't know they hired this young. "Um…"

The boy rambled on. "Are you in need of a vacuum today? We have a variety of sucky vacuums!"

"LEO!"

Paul and the salesman turned to look down the hallway to where a girl had yelled. She had just left the elevator and was now storming toward the boy in front of Paul. The boy looked at her confusedly.

"I thought you were right behind me!" he told her when she was standing next to him, glaring.

"I _was_, until you let the elevator door close before I got in. Pay attention to your surroundings, Valdez." The girl then turned her attention to Paul, and he noticed she looked frazzled as well. She flashed him a dazzling smile. "Hi. Are you Mr. Blowfish?"

"Ah, _Blofis_, actually are you with the, um, vacuum company too?"

The girl, who had dark hair and looked to be in her mid to late teens as well, turned to glare at the boy—whom she had called Leo—again. "You tried to sell _him _a vacuum too? What were you going to do if he actually wanted to buy one? The lady downstairs actually looked interested!"

Leo scoffed. "Do you forget who you're talking to? I would make one. Last week, Nyssa was taking apart a Dyson vacuum. I know it inside and out, baby. And I could make one ten times better."

Rolling her eyes, the girl looked back at Paul. "Sorry. No, we don't sell vacuums. At least, _I_ don't," she threw a glare at Leo, then smiled at Paul again. "We're friends of Percy's. Is he here?"

Comprehension dawned on Paul. Of course they were here for Percy, otherwise why would they be so weird?

"Piper? Leo?" Asked a voice from behind him. Percy walked up to the door and stood next to Paul. "What're you doing—"

"I'm going into your bedroom to find something, Percy," the girl announced, and she walked into the apartment without further ado. Paul had an urge to let the girl ransack the whole apartment, if it meant she would find what she was looking for.

"Ok," Percy said and stepped back. When she entered his room, he frowned. "Hey! Wait a sec," and he followed her into his room.

Paul frowned, then looked at Leo. The teen still looked panicky, but he didn't know why. "Um. What, uh, what just happened?"

"Well, see, I couldn't remember your name, and we'd already been to a few wrong apartments, so I just figured if I tried to sell you a vacuum, you'd just—"

"Not that, the… the thing where she just told him—"

"Oh, you mean what Piper did?" Leo asked. Paul nodded. "Piper's a daughter of Aphrodite, and some of her kids can do this thing called Charmspeaking. I don't know how rare it is, but Piper's really good at it. If she puts enough feeling behind her words, she can get pretty much anything she wants."Paul's eyebrows shot up. Leo noticed. "But don't worry, she only uses her powers for good. She's saved Percy's and my life a few times with it."

Paul nodded. Out of the bedroom, he heard a _snap_, then heard Percy yell "OW. Stop HITTING me!" Then Piper yelled "Then stop getting in my way!"

Leo frowned. "I should 'probly…" then he walked into the apartment and toward Percy's room. Paul followed.

Expecting to see the room looking like a tornado had hit, Paul was surprised when he saw the room look ten times cleaner. Even cleaner than it looked when Percy picked up before Annabeth came over. He saw Percy sitting at his desk with his arms crossed, a petulant look on his face while he watched Piper pick things up to look underneath them, then put the thing where it belongs. Leo snorted.

"That's what you get for letting an Aphrodite kid into your room, man."

Percy turned his glare to Leo. "I didn't _let_ her in! She just announced she was doing this and started messing with my things! And she won't even tell me what she's doing."

Piper, her head in a dresser drawer, huffed in frustration. "Leo, will you tell him what problem you've caused now so that he can stop whining?"

"I'm not whining!" Percy whined.

After a pause, Leo nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Well, remember that automaton that Jake, Nyssa and I built?"

"Don't you put blame on them, Repair Boy," Piper snapped as she moved from Percy's dresser drawers to his desk. "They barely had anything to do with it."

Percy furrowed his brow. "The one that was supposed to pick strawberries?" Percy asked. Leo nodded and started to speak but Percy cut him off. "But instead of doing that, it started unearthing trees and ruining the Demeter cabin? And when all the nymphs, satyrs, and Demeter kids started to riot, Chiron told Annabeth to find a way to get rid of it? But you didn't want her to take it apart, so you said you had deactivated it until you could figure out the problem. And Annabeth stole the remote that turns it on just for good measure. That automaton?"

Leo gulped and cleared his throat. "That's the one."

Percy nodded. "Yeah, I remember it. I thought it was pretty cool. Except, you know, when it chased the nymphs into the Big House."

Leo took a deep breath. "Well, I was trying to fix the wiring problem that made it turn into destructor, and I accidentally, uh, turned it on. And since I didn't have the remote, I couldn't exactly control it. And when it turned on, their were a bunch of wires undone, so… I really have no idea what it's gonna do."

Piper turned to look at Leo with her eyebrows raised, a crumpled shirt in her hand. "That's not what you said before. You said it was going to wander the camp, looking for people to duel with while blasting 'Sweet Home Alabama' as loud as it goes."

Both Paul and Percy looked at Leo with similar looks of confusion. "How does that make any sense?" Percy asked.

Leo sighed in exasperation. "Automatons are complicated! Remove one wire and all of the sudden its motive is the exact opposite of what you wanted it to be! And it was going to play 'Sweet Home Alabama' anyway, just not as loud." Three pairs of eyes stared at him confusedly. "It's easier to work if there's music!"

Percy huffed. "I still don't know why Beauty Queen is digging through my stuff."

"Annabeth hid the remote in your room," Leo answered simply.

Percy scoffed. "What? No she didn't."

"Did too," Piper stated, now searching under Percy's bed. "She would've come and gotten it herself, but she was busy trying to stop the automaton. She sent Leo because it was his fault anyway, and me because Leo needs a chaperone."

"I do no—"

"Leo, sit down and shut up," Piper snapped. Leo straightened and walked over to sit on Percy's bed. He scowled at her, but remained seated.

"Shouldn't Leo have stayed behind and tried to stop it?" Percy asked.

"He tried, but he's as helpless as the rest of us. Even his fire wouldn't work because he, in his infinite wisdom, made it _fireproof_," Piper told him.

"What do you mean, _his_ fire?" Paul asked. "You mean like, Greek fire?"

Percy shook his head. "Nah, they only use Greek fire in controlled situations. Or, if there's a serious problem. Leo has a way with fire."

Paul looked at Leo. He gave a small smile and waved, the tips of his fingers aflame. Paul's eyes widened. He wondered if that was why his clothing was charred, but he was uninjured.

"Found it!" Piper yelled, and sat up. Too late did she realize that her upper body was under the bed, and she banged her head on the frame. Leo put his hand on the bed next to him to steady himself when the bed wobbled, forgetting that his fingers were on fire.

While Percy helped Piper out from under the bed and Leo watched on silently (as he had been told to do), Paul was the only one that noticed the sheets were on fire.

"Fire!" He shouted, pointing at the bed next to Leo.

All at once, the demigods noticed. Leo started swatting the flames, Piper started looking for something to put it out with, and Percy jumped up and left the room. Which sucked, Paul thought, since he was counting on Percy to put it out.

Paul dove into the hallway and found the fire exterminator in the coat closet. He ran back to the room (where Piper was yelling at Leo because his fingers were still on fire and he was making it worse) and started to pull the pin when he heard Percy yell behind him.

"Watch out!" He advised, from the end of the hallway. He held the removable shower head in his hand and was pointing it toward his room. It made him look like an ill-equipped fireman.

He turned on the water and willed it to stay in a steady stream, headed into the bedroom. He doused the bed until he knew the flames were gone, then doused Leo for good measure. Leo grimaced. "I deserved that."

Percy put the shower head back as walked into his room. "Yeah. Ya did." He surveyed his bed and sighed. "You owe me new sheets," he told Leo.

"Yeah, alright," Leo grumbled. "But you're gonna have to wait in line. This is like the third thing I've burnt in the last two months, and I don't exactly have a steady income."

Percy rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Whatever, man. Shouldn't you guys get back to camp with that remote?"

Piper jumped "You're right. Let's go, Leo," she said and left the room with Leo on her tail. Paul and Percy left after them.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Blofis!" Piper called over her shoulder as she left the apartment. Leo clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers, pointing at Paul and Percy. As he snapped, his thumbs caught fire, and Paul was glad he left before he caught anything else ablaze. Paul closed the door after they were gone.

"Sorry 'bout that," Percy told Paul. "Leo's a little…" he moved his finger in a spiral next to his temple, "sometimes."

Good, so Paul wasn't the only one that thought so.

"I gotta say, I'm a little surprised you didn't want to go back to camp with them," Paul said.

Percy opened his mouth to speak, then paused and closed it. He frowned. "Maybe I should go back."

"Wait, I didn't mean—"

"If Annabeth had to stay behind, that means there was probably a lot to do. I bet they need help."

"But you still have to—"

"You're right Paul, I should go with them!" Percy exclaimed. He dashed into his room and grabbed his things, and Paul deflated.

Percy came back out within seconds and opened the door. "Tell mom I'll be back tomorrow or Sunday," he requested. Paul nodded, and Percy grinned as he headed out. "See ya later Paul!" He called and pulled the door shut behind him.

"Bye," Paul said just before the door closed. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, walking back to where his tests lay abandoned. "He's never gonna get that homework done."

**A/N Well, I hope you liked it. I also hope you don't think it's rushed, like I think it is.**

**Anywho, I welcome your thoughts!**


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